The Invitation

by Vi Keeland

“By the way, I heard you loud and clear earlier, so I won’t be asking you out again.” The smile on my face wilted. “Oh…okay.” He winked. “I’ll wait for you to ask me this time. Goodnight, Stella.”

“Stella and I have a business relationship.”

“Stop worrying. It’s not a date. We’re just business partners and friends having dinner. I won’t maul you until you ask me out.”

“I’d much rather show you than tell you. Take a chance, Stella.”

“I wanted to get to know you. The week after my sister’s wedding, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. It wasn’t because you’re beautiful—don’t get me wrong, you are. But I was attracted to your strength. You’re not a woman who needs a man. You’re a woman a man needs. I’m not sure I even recognized the difference years ago. But you make it impossible to forget now.”

“I…I…would you like to have dinner tomorrow night?” “Dinner?” I nodded and swallowed. “Yeah…like a date?” All the confusion and anger disappeared from his face. He shook his head. “It’s about fucking time.”

“Don’t be scared. I won’t hurt you. Except maybe a little biting.”

“You have been for a while, sweetheart. You just finally admitted it.”

“I think a lot of the reason I’ve struggled to be happy over the last year or two has been that my life turned out a lot different than I’d envisioned it. I needed to let go of what I thought my life was supposed to look like in order to write a new story.”

We’re only afraid of the things that mean the most to us.”

I cupped his cheek. “I’m so glad you waited me out.” “I knew you’d be worth waiting for.”

“She’s the light of his life. I think I’d rather it eat a hole in my stomach than break Hudson’s heart.”

I think life is a series of stepping stones that branch out in all different directions. We have no idea what path we’re supposed to follow, so we tend to walk a straight line and follow the biggest stones, because that’s the easiest thing to do.

“None of this is a coincidence, sweetheart. It’s the universe conspiring for us to be together. It has been from the very start—before we even met.”

“Sweetheart, I didn’t stand a chance from the moment I looked at you.”

I cried like a damn baby when they finally called around noon and confirmed that my little girl…wasn’t actually mine.

You are Charlie’s parent. Because a parent is someone who puts the child’s needs before their own, and I’m pretty sure you’re the only one of the three adults in this equation who has always done that.”

I hope she was dreaming of me, because I want to make all of her dreams come true—just like she’s made mine.

“One year ago today, I met a beautiful, smart woman,” he began. “When I’ve heard you tell the story of how we met, you say you crashed my sister’s wedding. But the truth of the matter is, you crashed my heart. You’re the kindest, warmest, strangest, most amazing person I’ve ever met.”

I love you because you’re a little strange sometimes, not despite it. You’ve spent years reading everyone else’s love stories, and tonight you read the last chapter of mine…” He winked. “…even though you weren’t supposed to. But my last chapter is only the beginning, sweetheart.” He looked over at Charlie, who pulled a little black box from behind her back and handed it to her father. “Stella Rose Bardot, let me give you your happily ever after. Be my wife, and I promise to try my hardest to make your life better than anything you’ve ever read in a book.”

“Yes. Yes! My heart already belongs to you both, so this is the icing on the cake.”